ARLINGTON — Drivers should prepare for traffic backups and slowdowns as they travel on I-5 across the Stillaguamish River starting Monday.
The I-5 crossing is set to be squeezed for five months while workers remove old paint, clean the metal and apply new paint.
Traffic heading south will merge into two lanes onto the northbound bridge, which also is being reduced to two lanes to make room. Speed limits will lower from 70 mph to 50 mph in the work zone. An average of 91,000 vehicles per day used the bridge in 2019, according to WSDOT data.
The Stillaguamish River Bridge was first built in 1933 with two lanes in each direction of Highway 99. It became part of I-5 in the 1960s. A second three-lane bridge was built just east of the original for northbound I-5 traffic in 1971.
The bridge deck that vehicles drive over every day was replaced in 2014.
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